Katamari Damacy coming to the US
Namco confirms that the game is on the way this year, and that the soundtrack will remain unchanged.
Namco Hometek has confirmed that Katamari Damacy, the little Japanese oddity we got so excited about last month, is now set for release in the USA this September on PS2. Although there's still no word on a European release, we're hoping that a Western translation will inspire more PS2 owners to try and play it.
For those with no comprehension of what we're discussing, however, a word of explanation is in order. Katamari Damacy is a strange little game in which you control a small man with a ball in front of him in a chunky, polygonal 3D world littered with objects great and small. The idea is to roll the ball around collecting objects. Doing so makes the ball grow, and as it grows you can gather larger and larger objects, until you're no longer concerned with paperclips and discarded pencils but rather cars, houses, even stadiums.
It's magical to play, the idea is brilliantly tuned and the soundtrack - which will remain unchanged for the US release according to Namco - is one of the most engaging original soundtracks we've encountered in a game that doesn't have the old Squaresoft logo stamped on the front. Which, for us, is saying something us.
Come September, we'll take another look at Katamari Damacy in its American form and try and give you more incentive to pay attention. In the meantime, if you have the tech to run Japanese games, we'd encourage you to read last month's import review and join us right now. We don't like being Lonely Rolling Star all by ourselves.